(part four)
Part Four: Power and Salvation
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first
and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16
Some people claim that Christianity is just a manmade religion.
Instead of recognizing the power of a saint’s life, people
would rather dismiss the reality of Christianity. Christ died, but
is alive. This is reality. No other religion in the world claims
that their founder is alive! Christ built His church on Himself.
He built it on Himself because He knows that He is everlasting.
He has no beginning of days and no end of days. The reason why we
are able to stand the test of time with no major modifications is
that our faith is based upon a sure Rock. That Rock is Christ. There
may be some minor non-essentials that perhaps we do not all agree
on. However, when it comes to the basic belief that Christ was born
of a virgin, was crucified, buried, rose again on the third day,
and seen of many; when it comes to those essentials, we agree on
them. Christianity is a sure foundation.
The reality of faith in our lives is the lifestyles that we live.
The evidence of changed lives is the reality of faith we live day
to day. There really is no other logical explanation to a change
in life other than Jesus being real. I look at people who have either
placed their faith in other false religions or misplaced their faith
within Christianity. There is a common denominator between both
of these: there is a lack of power in both. What is power? There
are nine different Greek words that all translate into the word
power. Anyone who knows anything about language knows that English
is a limited language. Therefore, it is often hard to translate
from richer languages to ours and still get the full meaning of
certain words. As you can see this language has nine words that
all translate into the same word. Therefore, what do I truly mean
when I say that other religions lack power? What definition or which
word of power am I referring to? Paul says this,
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first
and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16
We all know this scripture; we have probably quoted it many times.
I have written on it, preached about it, and have taught it numerous
times. The Greek word used here is the Greek word ‘dunamis’.
There are probably some who are familiar with this Greek word. It
is a great word. This is the power of salvation that I believe many
are not experiencing because they are not truly living the reality
of faith. Paul says that the gospel of Christ has this power within
it. The gospel is the dunamis of God to salvation. However, there
is a stipulation here: for everyone who believes. This power is
available for those who truly believe. I believe the reality of
faith that many people do not experience is the dunamis that has
an effect to a changing of a life. Before I define dunamis, I would
like to examine what Paul meant by salvation in this verse.
The word salvation here is the Greek word ‘Soteria’.
This is where we get the term Soteriology. Soteriology is the study
of theology that deals with salvation affected by Jesus Christ.
Some of the definitions to this word are deliverance, preservation,
safety; deliverance from the molestation of enemies. It also means
salvation as the present possession of all true Christians. It is
“the future salvation, the sum of benefits and blessings which
the Christians, redeemed from all earthly ills, will enjoy after
the visible return of Christ from heaven in the consummated and
eternal kingdom of God;” (Definition from New Testament Greek
Lexicon). Salvation is past, present, and future. We have been saved,
we are being saved, and we will be saved. Most people live in the
past salvation and the future salvation. However, many are not living
in the present reality of salvation. They are much like Martha,
in that they can believe what God did in the past, and what He will
do in the future, but presently, they cannot muster up the faith
to believe in God for the present.
21 Then Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here,
my brother would not have died. 23 Jesus said to her, "Your
brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to Him, "I know
that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
John 11:21, 23 – 24
Lazarus had died. Martha informs Jesus if He had been there, then
Lazarus would not have died. When Jesus tells her that her brother
is going to rise again right now, she points to the future and says
that she knows that he will rise again in the day of resurrection.
This is how so many people live their Christian lives: they do not
understand the power of God that is to salvation even right now.
They know that God had power in the past to deliver and that He
will deliver in the future, but to believe that that same power
is working presently in their lives is far too much for so many
people to believe. Martha could not believe that she was about to
see the power of God manifested right before her eyes; after all,
Lazarus had been dead for four days. The situation was dead and
why should she expect that life would come out of death right now?
Jesus answers her and says,
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And
whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe
this?" John 11:25 – 26
Jesus declared to her who He was: the resurrection and the life.
He said that anyone who believes in Him, though this person might
die, yet will him or her would live. Could Martha believe that the
same life that she believed her brother was going to receive in
the future was going to be manifested before her eyes at the present
time? She was not living the reality of faith. Instead, she was
living in a faith that really had no power for her present. It is
good that we have faith for the future. It is good that we recognize
that God has moved in our lives in the past, but if we cannot see
the Lord working in our lives right now, I believe that we are missing
something! Jesus is the resurrection and the life. His life is in
us right now! We are not what we used to be and the Lord continues
to change us day after day because we believe in Him! We are able
to see the power of the Lord to change our lives if we understand
that there is salvation in us right now!
Going back to our definition of salvation, we understand that salvation
is deliverance. What is true deliverance? We can define it is being
liberated from oppression or rescued. The deliverance that we experience
as the saints of God is the liberation from the power of darkness.
Think about a child that is being held captive by kidnappers until
the parents pay the ransom money to liberate their child from captivity.
The child is at the mercy of the kidnappers to do whatever the kidnapper
says to do. The child may not want to do those things, but there
is a power that the child is under. When Paul speaks about being
delivered from the power of darkness, this is an entirely different
Greek word than dunamis. This Greek word is the word ‘exousia’.
It is defined as, “the power of choice or liberty of doing
as one pleases.” It is the power of influence or authority.
It means, “To be under the power of him whose will and commands
must be submitted to by others and obeyed.” This would be
the type of power that a judge has. When the judge is in the courtroom,
he has an authority that must be respected.
Whatever he decrees or sentences has to be abided. The devil takes
away our power of choice, while God liberates us with the power
of choice. Before we were saved, we were under the power of him
whose will and commands we had to submit to. We have been delivered
from that. That is salvation!
Jesus showed us a representation of what salvation is like through
the miracle that He performed in turning the water into wine. Through
this miracle, we saw how that the very essence of the water was
changed. Water does not ferment and become wine. The actual elements
and chemical makeup of wine and water are distinct. Wine is not
H2O. Because I am not a chemistry major, so I do not know what the
proper compound equation for wine is, but I do know enough to know
that it is not H2O. When we are born again, our entire essence and
nature changes. As is the nature of water and wine completely different,
so is the nature of the believer and unbeliever different. This
is what it truly means to be born again: we become new creatures
in Christ. Our lives are not the same. We act out of the desire
of our new nature, a desire whose aim it is to please God. God gives
us the drive and desire to do His will and accomplish His plan for
our lives. This is born out of the new nature. When a person has
truly been changed by the power of God, this is what drives him
or her. This is the reality of faith that he or she experiences.
In closing, I will return to define dunamis. Dunamis can be defined
as “miracle working power.” It means, “Strength
power, ability”. It means, “inherent power, power residing
in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts
and puts forth,” or, “moral power and excellence of
soul”. Notice, Paul said that it is the power of God. Therefore,
according to one of the definitions: inherent power residing in
a thing by virtue of its nature, we can see why this power is so
effective. The power that springs forth from His nature as a result
of His nature is a power that I am interested in experiencing in
my life. Do you know that we experience the effects of that power
in our lives day by day through the salvation that we live in? This
is what those who believe truly have.
This is the reality of faith that they experience! This word dunamis
is used 116 times in the New Testament. King James translates this
word into power 77 of those 116 times. It also is translated into
the phrase: mighty work. It too can be translated to mean strength
or miracle. Look at some of the ways this word is used in scripture:
And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Matthew 13:58
Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures,
nor the power of God. Matthew 22:29
And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue
is gone out of me. Luke 8:46
Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power
and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. Luke 9:1
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in
all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Acts 1:8
And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Acts 4:33
And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracle
s among the people. Acts 6:8
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;
but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians
1:18
I guess that I could go on recording more scriptures, but there
are far too many for me to copy. What I want you to understand is
that the reality of faith that we live is the power of God to salvation.
We live in the reality of salvation through our changed life. God
has used His power to change our nature. This is something that
we could not do on our own. I really could continue on with this
series about the reality of faith. However, I will not. I pray that
the Lord has spoken to you through this series. My friends live
the reality of faith. We are alive and well, the Spirit is within
us because He died and rose again!
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